The U.S. House of Representatives voted 340-54 on January 12 to extend a trade preference program that has been the model behind U.S.-African trade and investment since it was enacted in 2000.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provides duty-free entry into the United States for almost all African products. The program was last renewed by Congress for 10 years in 2015 and expired on September 30, 2025.
The California Chamber of Commerce urges renewal of the AGOA, which affects 32 of the approximately 45 sub-Saharan nations. There are a total of 54 African nations. The AGOA has helped to expand and diversify African exports to the United States.
The legislation approved yesterday, H.R. 6500, the AGOA Extension Act, renews AGOA for three years, until December 31, 2028. Renewal will provide much-needed certainty to U.S. companies that source products from sub-Saharan Africa. H.R. 6500 makes the program renewal retroactive back to the expiration date.
The Trump administration has indicated an interest in a one-year extension of the program.
Supporters of extending the AGOA are discussing strategies that include attaching renewal language to a funding bill.
AGOA
The AGOA is the cornerstone of economic relations between the United States and sub-Saharan African nations. Since 2000, the program has fostered increased trade and investment within Africa while raising standards by promoting fair treatment for U.S. companies and farmers, human rights, anti-corruption efforts, and democracy.
U.S. businesses have invested $8 billion annually under AGOA while African trading nations are opening their markets for U.S. agricultural products.
AGOA has the most stringent eligibility criteria of any preference program; countries must undergo annual reviews to ensure they meet strict standards related to the rule of law and political pluralism, anti-corruption, intellectual property rights, human rights and market access. The program ensures beneficiaries do not undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy interests.
Africa is home to approximately 30% of the world’s critical mineral resources. China has invested $8 billion to $10 billion in Africa to try to monopolize supply chains for these resources. AGOA is one of the United States’ most valuable tools for securing its long-term economic and national security.
The AGOA embodies a trade and investment-centered approach to development. Enactment of the AGOA has stimulated the growth of the African private sector and provided incentives for further reform. The AGOA is aimed at transforming the relationship between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa away from aid dependence to enhanced commerce by providing commercial incentives to encourage bilateral trade.
CalChamber Position
The CalChamber believes that it is in the mutual economic interest of the United States and sub-Saharan Africa to promote stable and sustainable economic growth and development in sub-Saharan Africa and that this growth depends in large measure upon the development of a receptive environment for trade and investment.
The CalChamber is supportive of the United States seeking to facilitate market-led economic growth in, and thereby the social and economic development of, the countries of sub- Saharan Africa.
In particular, the CalChamber is supportive of the United States seeking to assist sub-Saharan African countries, and the private sector in those countries, to achieve economic self-reliance.
By providing new market opportunities, AGOA has helped bolster economic growth, promoted economic and political reform, and improved U.S. economic relations in the region.
Sub-Saharan Africa will have 25% of the world’s population by 2050. Economic self-reliance is critical for this growing population.
Staff Contact: Susanne T. Stirling
